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The Fueled By Ramen Intern IMPOSSIBLE Interview #9

News

What first inspired you to work in the music industry?My inspiration for working in the music industry goes back to when I was in high school and going to shows all the time. I lived for pop punk and went to shows wanting to buy merch, but often left empty handed because the girls shirts were printed on wide Hanes tees that were thick and didn't fit right. The guys designs were often ugly and also printed on thick blanks that I didn't want to wear. I decided I wanted to go into music merchandise to make apparel that people wanted to wear.

How did you get to your position as Merchandise Product Manager of Fueled By Ramen?I started interning at the Fueled By Ramen office in Tampa in 2005. A job opened up in the mailroom after a few months so I helped fill the orders that were placed online. This was one of the best times in my life! The atmosphere in our office was so much fun! We all hung out and went to shows together. Eventually a job opened up in the merchandise department for a product manager and I was hired on full time. This was literally a dream come true. This was exactly what I wanted to do since I was 15 years old.

What is the merchandising process like from start to finish?We start by determining our needs for various channels - webstore, tour, retail or international. Once we figure out where this is being used we take the specific channel's aesthetic into consideration. For example, for retail, we work to hit Hot Topic's younger demographic when pitching them designs. Next we reach out to the band to get design direction, once we have design direction I place an art request that is sent to the art team. The art team dissects the art direction provided and decides which designers are best for the project. Once we have new art I send the designs to management and the artist. They either approve the design, request revisions or hopefully provide new direction. Once the design is approved we will determine the quantity being ordered, the delivery date and the shipping address. I will set up the item in our internal backend system - determine the blank style and assign each size it's own UPC. From here a work order is placed by the product manager, which is approved by our inventory management team. Our production gets the work order and assigns the job to a specific printer and orders the blank stock requested to the printer assigned to the job. The art department takes the hi res artwork and has it separated and prepared for press. The printer creates films and screens from the layered artwork provided and screen prints onto the blanks provided. The printer boxes up the finished product and ships it to the desired location - tour, webstore or a specific retailer.

What are some of your favorite albums from 2012?2 Chainz, Fun. Bad Books, Hot Water Music, Now, Now and The Lumineers!

If you could have a superpower, what would you choose and why?I would fly because then I wouldn't have to take the subway! What would be cooler than flying? The answer to that is nothing.

What first inspired you to work in the music industry?My inspiration for working in the music industry goes back to when I was in high school and going to shows all the time. I lived for pop punk and went to shows wanting to buy merch, but often left empty handed because the girls shirts were printed on wide Hanes tees that were thick and didn't fit right. The guys designs were often ugly and also printed on thick blanks that I didn't want to wear. I decided I wanted to go into music merchandise to make apparel that people wanted to wear.

How did you get to your position as Merchandise Product Manager of Fueled By Ramen?I started interning at the Fueled By Ramen office in Tampa in 2005. A job opened up in the mailroom after a few months so I helped fill the orders that were placed online. This was one of the best times in my life! The atmosphere in our office was so much fun! We all hung out and went to shows together. Eventually a job opened up in the merchandise department for a product manager and I was hired on full time. This was literally a dream come true. This was exactly what I wanted to do since I was 15 years old.

What is the merchandising process like from start to finish?We start by determining our needs for various channels - webstore, tour, retail or international. Once we figure out where this is being used we take the specific channel's aesthetic into consideration. For example, for retail, we work to hit Hot Topic's younger demographic when pitching them designs. Next we reach out to the band to get design direction, once we have design direction I place an art request that is sent to the art team. The art team dissects the art direction provided and decides which designers are best for the project. Once we have new art I send the designs to management and the artist. They either approve the design, request revisions or hopefully provide new direction. Once the design is approved we will determine the quantity being ordered, the delivery date and the shipping address. I will set up the item in our internal backend system - determine the blank style and assign each size it's own UPC. From here a work order is placed by the product manager, which is approved by our inventory management team. Our production gets the work order and assigns the job to a specific printer and orders the blank stock requested to the printer assigned to the job. The art department takes the hi res artwork and has it separated and prepared for press. The printer creates films and screens from the layered artwork provided and screen prints onto the blanks provided. The printer boxes up the finished product and ships it to the desired location - tour, webstore or a specific retailer.

What are some of your favorite albums from 2012?2 Chainz, Fun. Bad Books, Hot Water Music, Now, Now and The Lumineers!

If you could have a superpower, what would you choose and why?I would fly because then I wouldn't have to take the subway! What would be cooler than flying? The answer to that is nothing.